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A two year scientific study using laboratory rats has been conducted by a team of researchers led by Gilles-Eric Séralini. The researchers arrived at conclusions which have reawakened French debate on the effects of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.

Early mortality, large tumors, severe abnormalities of filtration organs (liver, kidneys)… [..]. The team of scientists found that a GMO-fed male died a year earlier, and a female 8 months before the animal-control. In the 17th month, the results show 5 times mortality in males fed with 11% of genetically modified maize – the lowest dose of GMOs studied.

Males suffered from tumors 20 months before the others. Females showed them 3 months before the others, mainly in the mammary glands. Another factor in mortality, mainly in males, was that kidney damage was up to 2.3 times more frequent, liver abnormalities up to 5.5 times more.

Monsanto will invade France by the hundreds! Fine! Sell your Monsanto shares, they will soon be worth nothing! They are going to go kaput! They will spare no expense researching private life, trying to buy France or blackmail it, these people have unlimited money. They can spend a billion on publicity campaigns. We will need to watch the reports from journalists carefully…

There wasn’t long to wait for Monsanto’s counter-attack on Gilles-Eric Séralini and Criigen’s study on GMOs. It was in an e-mail sent by a leader of Monsanto, Jaime Costa, an agricultural engineer and Technical Director of Monsanto in Spain. He advises others to consult various reactions of scientists criticizing the study. Scientists are far from independent…

For example, scientific journalist Michel de Pracontal wrote the following in a critical analysis entitled ‘GMOs: a study makes much ado about almost nothing’ on mediapart.fr:

Problem: many scientists argue that “the study has no scientific value”. On such a complex issue, the methodology adopted by the authors, Gilles-Eric Séralini and his colleagues, reveals a whole series of gaps and weak points.

The first observation is a high rate of tumours in controls and in many cases the incidence of tumours in the test subjects is not higher than in the controls. All groups therefore showed very high rates of tumours, from 30 to 80% of the animals. This study gives surprising, inexplicable results and there are some obvious gaps. The results should therefore be closely studied by health agency experts, especially as many parameters aside from cancer were measured. On the other hand, all the extrapolations [that the mainstream media concluded as a result of the study] are just blatant misinformation.

Gilles-Eric Séralini agrees to Efsa advice provided that the experts are renewed in such a way that they are not led to have to contradict themselves. The Director of the Efsa does not see it that way. She refuses the renewal of its experts. Her position is “I look after. Everything”.

On the same site, Corinne Lepage, President and founder of CRIIGEN, and member of the European Parliament said in an interview:

It must be understood that these experts, who have never performed studies of more than 90 days on the NK603, could have to answer questions in the future. They are therefore today judges and stakeholders.

The duration of the study seems to have acquired a great importance. Stéphanie Senet et Romain Loury stated in a post on website journaldelenvironnement.net:

And even if transgenic crops are banned in France, 80% of farmed animals consume cereals containing GMOs. Two thirds of soybean imports in France are GMOs which are used for livestock feed: one can then find traces in meat, eggs, milk.

Francophone Africa joined the debate, with Dosso commenting under a post on lefaso.net:

I often wonder what is the point of our National Centre for Scientific and Technical Research and the National Public Health Laboratory. This is not because Western laboratories have said that such products are good, rather that our technicians must no longer do anything to confirm or disprove this yet. But this is serious, and sickening. Are there really research services in Africa and, specifically, Burkina Faso?

South Africa, Egypt and Burkina Faso are the three African countries that have chosen to grow GMOs.

In Zimbabwe, Kenya and Ghana, lobbyists are piling on the pressure. What is more, Africa cannot even feed itself, it is difficult to stem the flow of GMOs onto the continental market. Ten years ago, contrary to Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and the Zimbabwe, Zambia refused corn from the United States, provided by the United Nations, suspecting that it contained GMOs.